Page 3 - Brumback Case News Today

Of his career and hed always said to me, "if you get a juicy murder, that give me a call. ill try it with ya." and i called him half expecting him to be, like, "nah, you know, im too old. i dont wanna do it." and he was onboard immediately, so -- >> this ended up being that case. >> that was that case, right. >> reporter: dr. anthony garcia insisted that he was innocent. but the mottas were concerned that extensive press coverage of the murders was giving potential jurors only one side of the st...

You kind of -- you cant give them what -- theyre looking for answers from you that you cant give them, you know? >> reporter: tough for you guys, too, because im sure you want to keep working on this. meanwhile -- >> yes. >> reporter: your boss is saying, "heres another case." and another one. and another one. >> yeah. and thats why it went to the cold case unit. >> reporter: and thats how it stayed until may of 2013. the breakthrough moment came in brutal form, yet another double homicide in om...

Their dna evidence establishes undeniably, unmistakably and without doubt that the murders were committed by two people and not anthony garcia. >> reporter: the claim was based on what the mottas believed to be a potential match between some unidentified dna found on shirlee shermans bandana and some dna taken from a suspect in another case. >> they are taking alleles from dna, bits and pieces, and coming up with a theory that never made it to trial, but she throws it out there on the eve of tri...

>> reporter: prosecutors said hoffman had nothing to gain by publicly talking about her past life. >> she had two children. she had moved on in her life, and didnt want to go back in time, but she did. >> reporter: but why would garcia make that confession to her? hoffman said garcia, who was a regular at the strip club where she worked, wanted more than a lap dance. >> he was trying to impress her because she was trying to keep him at arms length saying, "you know what, he was getting too serio...

The detectives hadnt already studied and discounted. a year after the murders in dundee, the case went cold and most of the detectives moved on to other things. but for the families of shirlee sherman and tom hunter, there could be no moving on. >> howd you see your dad change? >> it wasnt like he was depressed all the time or he was himself. it just, there was obviously something kind of, like, you can always see behind someones eyes that theres something there troubling them. and i think we al...

Case and, in particular, that piece of evidence was not exactly truthful. >> reporter: the defense attornies spent a lot of time talking about the gun found on the side of the road and the ammo magazine at the brumback house. >> in light of the fact that we have the very damaging magazine evidence, we want to cloud it up by talking about a bunch of [ bleep ] that doesnt matter. >> thats the only thing that i want to say. >> theres sound on this so "f" words probably -- >> hey, you want real life...

Murder. so, we had similarities in that weapons were taken from her home and used against her and left at the scene. >> but you had somebody you liked for that. >> the detectives that investigated that case had identified a suspect very early on. somebody who was a family member of hers whom she had had a falling out with. >> and who didnt seem to have any connection with the hunters. >> none whatsoever. >> reporter: there comes a time in every homicide investigation where detectives have to foc...

>> reporter: sometimes justice is not what happens in a courtroom but rather what comes out of it. on the day lawyers finished their closing arguments in the anthony garcia murder case, a lot of people showed up to see what kind of justice would come out of courtroom 316. among those waiting were the families of tom hunter, of shirlee sherman and, yes, of anthony garcia. it was late afternoon when the jury got the case. then the waiting began. huddled on benches outside the courtroom were report...

Investigating homicides in our jurisdiction, and mr. garcia immediately asked for an attorney. >> thats it? >> and thats it. i mean, at that point as an investigator, i cant continue questioning. >> reporter: later that afternoon, omaha police chief todd schmaderer stepped before the cameras to make the announcement that his city had been desperately waiting to hear. >> arrested this morning was dr. anthony joseph garcia for four counts of first degree murder and use of a weapon to commit the mu...

That he was anywhere other than there. >> reporter: which is not an ironclad alibi, but its not bad. >> its not bad. and sometimes thats just the reality of our work. >> reporter: that seemed to be the end of the line. dr. belenky had been the investigators last best lead. unwilling to see the case go cold, shirlee shermans family pooled their money and offered a reward. >> there were a number of contributions. i think there were some other people contributing as well. >> reporter: which made it...